Close Your Mouth & To The Blind Man
Two poems.
Close Your Mouth
(for G.)
Close your mouth.
Your teeth are showing, sharp as moonlight,
And you will cut yourself on them.
Close your mouth.
Once again, the bar is closing,
The lights turning off one by one,
The coins rattling in their tray as Holly tocks them up.
Your lips are parted as you finish up your drink and droplets,
clinging to our lip like so much nectar catch the light before
your tongue draws them in.
Close your mouth.
Do you ever stop talking?
Word after word drips from your mouth:
You talk of mead halls and old songs,
Traffics and tax fraud,
Polished swords and nursery rhymes.
Are you so scared of the silence, shadow-stalker?
Are you so frightened of the quiet when it comes?
Close your mouth.
It’s not your fault.
I don’t need excuses, or prayers, or talking,
Let your lolling tongue rest behind the cage of your teeth,
And let us share…
